


The Test

by Saoirse_Konstantin



Series: Tests [1]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fake Dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23315893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saoirse_Konstantin/pseuds/Saoirse_Konstantin
Summary: What do you do when your grandmother insists on having lunch with you and you know she's going to ask you about your dating life or lack thereof? You get a fake boyfriend of course! Veronica corrals Logan into being her boyfriend to get through lunch with Grandma Reynolds. And oh, is lunch just full of surprises!
Relationships: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Series: Tests [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679263
Comments: 15
Kudos: 44
Collections: LV AU WEEK 2020





	The Test

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was the second story I wrote yesterday, because I got the days of LV AU Week 2020 mixed up. When I sat down to write, I had a plan for this story and this story took that plan and threw it out the window. Lol. I sat there when I finished writing it, shaking my head going, "Wait, what just happened?" I'm happy with it though. So, I hope you all enjoy it. Many thanks to my wonderfully amazing beta and the twin of my heart, His_Beautiful_Girl. She worked super fast to make this ready for today, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. Also many thanks to pyrodaemon who beta-ed for me after I posted (I have since updated the text with her suggestions.) I have the best Betas in the world. Just saying.

Veronica, despite being almost a foot shorter than Logan, dragged him by the hand towards the doors of the restaurant. Before she reached the doorway, she stopped, and he almost ran into her. Turning, she straightened his tie and brushed lint off his suit jacket. “So just pretend you’re my boyfriend, okay? Grandma Reynolds will embarrass me and tell all the—”

“So, you downgraded me?”

She kept on talking as if he hadn’t spoken, “Embarrassing stories from my childhood and if I’m unlucky she brought pict—wait what? What do you mean I’ve downgraded you? From what?”

Logan smirked. “Well, last time when we were searching for my mother, we were engaged. Now, we’re dating, ergo you’ve downgraded me. Have I somehow offended you, Sugarpuss? Have I not put the dirty socks away or put the toilet seat down every time? What can I do to get back to being your one true love?”

With a giggle, her head shook. He grinned and brushed a hand along a smooth cheek. “That’s better. Breathe, Bobcat. This will be easy since you have faced murderers and dognappers, and an unfeeling sister. I’ll be my usual ‘the public is watching’ charming self and your grandmother will fall in love. But don’t let it surprise you if she also wonders when you will upgrade me back to my original position. I am a catch after all.”

She shoved a shoulder. “Just don’t oversell. I don’t want her heartbroken when we fake breakup. In fact, if you can channel a little of the obligatory psychotic jackass from sophomore year, that might be better than acting charming.” He stared, so she mumbled, “Please don’t make me regret this,” before grabbing a hand and the pair walked together into the restaurant.

Grandma Reynolds stood from her seat and waved. Veronica waved off the hostess and made their way to the grinning gray-haired woman. After hugging Veronica, she hugged him, so he returned the hug and the three sat.

Mrs. Reynolds waved the waiter over and the trio ordered drinks before looking at the menu. A few minutes later the waiter came back with the drink orders and took their food orders.

Once the waiter had the menus in hand, he left, and Veronica took hold of Logan’s hand and squeezed. Mrs. Reynolds gave a polite smile. “Veronica, Dear, what’s this I hear about you doing battle with yet another criminal? On a roof this time.”

Veronica deflated and shook her head. “That wasn’t my fault. I was minding my own business.”

Mrs. Reynolds’ eyes narrowed, and she took a sip of wine. “What your mother was thinking, leaving you with only Keith to raise you, I’ll never know. You were such a promising young lady and now you take after Keith more than Lianne. Though to be fair, she’s not much better than her husband, is she? Not sure where we went wrong there. No, wait, I take that back. Jake is where we went wrong. Everybody thought they’d be a suitable match, but then his parents chose Celeste to marry their son and our daughter and Jake were both devastated. But you know that sordid tale don’t you, My Dear. I understand you had a paternity test done last year.”

Veronica’s shoulders slouched a bit. “Yes, but I shredded the results before reading them. I already know everything I need to know. Keith Mars is my dad.”

Mrs. Reynolds sighed and shook her head. “I wish you hadn’t shredded the results. Keith misled you. I have known for years through a blood test performed on you at age six that you are the product of an affair Lianne had with Jake Kane. Speaking of whom, he reached out last week and would like to rekindle a relationship with you, which is why I asked you to dinner. Jake and Celeste have filed for divorce. And I expect your mother will return to Neptune as soon as the judge signs off on the divorce. However, your grandfather and I have decided that Lianne is far too unstable and therefore unsuitable to inherit the family estate. So, we’ve written her out of the living trust and the will both and have named you as the family’s sole heiress.”

Logan’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Veronica like he had never seen her before. Mrs. Reynolds smiled. “Am I to take it your friend wasn’t aware that our family is worth more than triple what the Kane’s are worth? It’s good that he was interested before he learned this. Though a word of advice, stop with the fake dating and put the boy out of his misery. For goodness’ sake, he almost took a bullet for you and stopped you from committing murder. Yes, I’d say young Logan has more than proven his worth, and despite who his father is, I approve of this match.”

Logan leaned towards the table and met her gaze. “While I appreciate your approval, the only approval I’ve ever needed is Veronica’s and she’ll give that when she’s good and ready. And I don’t want to tell you how to handle your own granddaughter, but telling Veronica something like you approve of the match is more likely to make convincing her I’m proper boyfriend material even harder. Keeping your opinions to yourself would further your cause if you wish for her to marry me. All due respect.”

Her lips turned up a little more. “Yes, I like this one. He’ll speak his mind to both of us whether or not we want to hear it. You share that tendency to speak your mind with my granddaughter. But tell me, are you the ambitious sort?”

He laughed and picked up the water glass and took a sip, trying to figure out what Mrs. Reynold’s game was. After swallowing, he lowered the glass. “I have goals, and while I might not come across to most as goal oriented, I plan to go to college. And I plan to do well enough that I’ll be able to manage my inheritance and not spend it all in fifteen years. I also wish to improve my writing and try writing a book or two. My last goal is the most ambitious, though. I wish to marry your granddaughter someday and raise a family. First, though, I need to convince her I’m the man for her. Then I need to convince her that marriage and kids will not blow up in our faces the way they did for our parents.”

Veronica turned and faced him. “You’ve thought about marriage?”

With a tender grin, he reached up and stroked a cheek. “Most days since the day we met. I’m still convinced it was those knee socks. Anyhow, I’m aware that you’re not ready for all this. So, if you could forget I said it until such a time when you are ready, I’d appreciate it.”

Veronica’s hand rose, and she stroked a clean-shaven cheek before she leaned forward and kissed him. Just a soft brush of lips on lips, but the action made his heart skip a beat. When she pulled back, her eyes fluttered open and met his gaze. “I’m ready to be a proper boyfriend and girlfriend and we can discuss the other stuff in a few years after we’ve both graduated from college.”

He smirked and pecked her lips. “You say the word when you’re ready and we can have that talk.”

She beamed and stared into his eyes until Mrs. Reynolds cleared her throat. “Excellent. Now about rekindling a relationship with Jake. Your grandfather and I feel it would be beneficial to everyone involved if we take steps to unite the families. And while I doubt the Kane’s want Lianne to marry their soon-to-be divorced son, having an open and friendly communication between their son and granddaughter would be a positive development.”

“ _Grandmother_.”

Logan didn’t need to look at Veronica to see her back was ramrod straight and that she was ready to go to war. But he glanced at her and took her hand under the table as a show of support. She squeezed it while her other hand played with the alexandrite flower pendant hanging around her neck. “If I must, I will do another paternity test, but I’m certain you are wrong and that dad is my dad, not Jake.”

Mrs. Reynolds took a stack of reconstructed papers out of her purse and handed the pile to Veronica, who let go of his hand and took the pages. She read for a minute. “How did you get this?”

Mrs. Reynolds frowned. “Our head of security dug them out of the recycle and pieced the pages back together. There are two separate sets of papers. One collected in November 2004 and shredded by you and another collected April 2005 that my former son-in-law shredded without your knowledge. Both say the same thing. The third document is one I had done. I took hair from your hairbrush at our house and had it compared to Jake’s DNA. All three documents confirm that Keith is not your father, Jake is.”

Veronica stood, and the chair fell backwards so he stood and put a hand on her back so she’d know he had her back, but said nothing.

Mrs. Reynolds’ lips turned down further. “Sit down, Veronica. I’m aware this is distressing. I’m not discounting that, but you needed to know that Keith lied. Now, I have my suspicions about why he did such a thing. Therefore, I’ve already had the family lawyers make it so the document you signed at Celeste’s request is void. It was simple enough to arrange since you signed under duress after being lied to.”

Veronica’s head shook. “I signed that before anyone said anything about paternity.”

Her grandmother waved a hand as if batting the words away. “That is neither here nor there. The judge said it was void, and now that Jake is divorcing Celeste, she has no right to request you sign such a document again. And since I have it on good authority that Jake wishes you to be his family’s sole heiress, well, you do the math. Two powerful families, three if you count your future husband’s.”

Logan frowned. “Still not helping my cause, Mrs. Reynolds.”

She batted the words away again and motioned to their chairs. “Please sit, you’re making a scene, and you are aware of how much I hate that.”

Logan smirked and sat. “Well, perhaps you should avoid blindsiding Veronica. Maybe then she won’t create a scene. Though, if you ever meet Trina, you’ll see this was mild. The word ‘scene’ doesn’t even fit what this was. Trust me, when someone throws full wine glasses around a restaurant and tosses dishes full of food, _then_ it’s a scene.”

Mrs. Reynolds picked up her glass and took a sip before tipping it towards him and placed the glass back on the table. “Perhaps I should have gone about this in a different manner but I needed to see what your reaction would be since I suspected very well what Veronica’s would be.”

Veronica bent over and picked up the chair before righting it and sitting. She placed her folded hands on the table, and then just stared at Grandma Reynolds.

Logan sat hack and tilted his head. “So, did I pass the test?”

Mrs. Reynolds smirked. “With flying colors and I hope the two of you don’t make me wait too long for the wedding.”

Veronica smirked. “Funny, you should say that. Did your head of security tell you where I was this last week?”

Mrs. Reynolds’ head shook. “No, but I fear you will tell me, and I will not like it.”

Veronica picked up her glass and took a sip before lowering the glass and putting it on the table. She reached down and picked up her purse and dug for a moment before taking something out and holding a hand out for Logan. He held his hand below hers, and she opened her hand, dropping something into it.

He held it up, revealing a platinum wedding band which he put on his left ring finger while Veronica placed a matching wedding set on her own finger.

Mrs. Reynolds’s eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward. “Tell me you at least had the foresight to sign a prenup first.”

Logan laughed and took out his wallet before handing a hundred-dollar bill to Veronica. “You won that fair and square. I stand corrected. Her first words were about a prenup just like you predicted.”

Veronica took the bill and placed it in her wallet with an ear to ear grin before taking out a stack of papers and handing them to her grandmother. While Mrs. Reynolds read, Veronica took another sip. Then she leaned over and kissed Logan, another simple brush of lips on lips, very chaste, but it settled him, so he beamed.

When Mrs. Reynolds finished reading, she grinned. “Excellent. You protected both of your interests and united three powerful families. Well done, both of you, though now I owe Jake’s mother a painting I didn’t want to part with.”

Veronica smirked again. “Not the Renoir?”

Mrs. Reynolds’ head shook. “No worse, the Degas.”

Veronica chuckled before the waiter brought the meals and they made small talk over dinner. When it was over, Mrs. Reynolds looked across the table for a moment. “Now, when will you be giving us grand-babies?”

Veronica and Logan both chuckled before Veronica sat forward. “I think law school first and after I pass the bar, we can talk about filling the house with little Logan’s.”

His head shook with a bemused up turning of lips “Don’t forget the little Veronica’s”

With a laugh, she sat back. “Those too.”

Mrs. Reynolds pouted but nodded. “Very well. This will please both of your grandfathers to learn that plan. Madeline and I, on the other hand… don’t wait too long.”

Veronica’s head shook. “Mrs. Kane and you will have to wait. Everything in its proper order, please.”

They declined desert and Veronica rose and walked around to her grandmother and kissed both cheeks. “We’ll invite you over for dinner once we finish moving into the house we bought. You’ll approve.”

Mrs. Reynolds’ eyes narrowed. “How is it our head of security isn’t aware of any of this?”

Logan chuckled and stood. “Please, the day my wife can’t keep a secret, even from people snooping for them, is the day I hand in my sarcastic guy membership card.”

Veronica’s lips turned upward, and she reached for a hand. “We’ll be in touch, Grandmother.” And they both walked out hand in hand with broad grins on their faces.

He squeezed a hand. “So, when we tell Keith, what do you think his reaction will be?” Veronica’s only response was laughter that floated on the air. He chuckled and swung her hand in his. “We should do that reveal at a restaurant too, so he doesn’t have easy access to his firearm collection.”

Veronica stopped and pulled him into her arms before kissing him. When she pulled back, she grinned. “You might be right.”

They kissed again before walking to the car and getting in. After kissing for a few minutes, they drove to their new home and worked on christening every room.


End file.
